VIDEO: Shark expedition tags two great whites

Researchers aboard the MV Ocearch caught and tagged the first great white shark of their Nova Scotia expedition Monday off the mouth of the LaHave River.

And then they caught a second one.

The team announced their success on Twitter along with the name of the newest shark to bear the satellite-data enabled technology.

“We just tagged our first ever white shark in Canadian waters! Everybody meet @NovaTheShark,” the first social media post said. “Nova is a male who’s just over 11ft long. We tagged him off the beautiful South Shore of Nova Scotia. #NovaScotiaExpedition.”

Later Monday night, Ocearch tweeted again to announce a second white shark had been caught and tagged. They named the second one Jefferson, after one of their sponsors.

“2 white sharks in 1 day!,” the Twitter post said. “We’re honored to name the second one @Jefferson_Shark after @JeffsBourbon. Their commitment to our mission has funded our expeditions to countries around the world. Their support is leading to an abundant future for our children.”

The expedition is the first the U.S.-based organization has mounted in Canadian waters. They began their quest for the big beasts off Lunenburg and Mahone Bay last week.

2 white sharks in 1 day! We’re honored to name the second one @Jefferson_Shark after @JeffsBourbon. Their commitment to our mission has funded our expeditions to countries around the world. Their support is leading to an abundant future for our children. pic.twitter.com/JSdrNbQtlu

Expedition leader Chris Fischer said the expedition relocated off LaHave due to a strong wind blowing from the north.

They set up near a spot where they saw some seals on land and Nova came in to make their day. Seals are typical prey for white sharks.

“We’re thrilled to be able to name the first white shark we picked up here for the people of Nova Scotia,” Fischer said in a telephone interview from the boat. “So you guys got your own shark to follow and all the kids can follow and use the curriculum and so forth.”

Ocearch is the organization that tagged the great white known as Hilton. That shark has captured the attention of Nova Scotians thanks to satellite tracking revealing his penchant for hanging around Nova Scotia’s coast and a witty Twitter feed following his progress.

Fischer had said on Saturday while The Chronicle Herald was aboard for the day that if they could tag even one shark, the expedition would be a success. Thanks to Monday’s catch, they have accomplished that and then some.

“It’ll be interesting to see if (Nova) does not go to Cape Cod, like Hilton, and just cruises down the southeastern United States and back up to here, just (to) build on that data set that’s making this place potentially look (like) where mature sharks are aggregating.”

One of the goals researchers have is to see if they can determine whether the waters off Nova Scotia is a mating site. The presence of three males, Hilton and now Nova and Jefferson, in the region during mating season is a strong clue.

“If we are given the opportunity by the ocean for a mature female to come by, that would be another big piece of the puzzle,” Fischer said.

“(It’s) really exciting. We feel like the trip is made now and just try to be prepared and make good, safe, conservative decisions and see what other sort of chances the ocean offers up for us. You never want to get greedy out here, you always want to be grateful. We’re grateful and we’ll see what happens but it sure is nice when it happens early in the trip.”

The crew also saw a shark swim by the ship on Sunday but they weren’t able to get that one to engage. They have baited lines on buoys nearby as well as crew fishing from a secondary boat and chum the waters from the main vessel.

“We feel awful lucky to see two fish in two days and have a shot at capturing and tagging it,” Fischer said. “All of these opportunities are given to us by the ocean. You just kind of get yourself in a position where you’re prepared and you’re grateful for any chance you get.”

Now the expedition just hopes the latest sharks are “pingers,” meaning they often comes to the surface and poke their dorsal fins out long enough to send a signal to the satellite tracking system.

“Some of these sharks aren’t pingers, some are,” Fischer said. “So if he’s a shark like Hilton, we’ll hear from him in a week or so.”

They’re under no biological pressure to come up. Nova or Jefferson could stay deep underwater for months at a time.

“Only time will tell,” Fischer said. “In the meantime we’re just going to keep our nose to the grindstone out here and keep working from dawn to dark and try to take advantage of any shark that we get.”